Ottawa County Circuit Judge Ed Post has photography on display in exhibit

North Ottawa Weekly/Jeffrey CunninghamPhotographer Ed Post looks at a photo of an owl that is part of an exhibit at the Uptown Gallery in Grand Haven. Post also is a Ottawa County circuit judge.

GRAND HAVEN -- More often than not when the name Ed Post draws attention, it's because his job as a 20th Circuit Court judge in Grand Haven has linked him to a high profile murder, as it did last spring when he sentenced Troy Brake to life in prison for the murder of four people in Wright Township.

Increasingly, Post's other job outside the courtroom also has started to draw attention. For that, he is grateful.

Post, 58, of Grand Haven, and two other photographers -- Elizabeth Reynders and Ira Trowbridge -- currently have an exhibit of their work at the Gallery Uptown in Grand Haven. The exhibit runs through the end of the month.

About 20 years ago Post attended a workshop in the Upper Peninsula by noted photographer and Michigan native John Gerlach, which began to launch Post's career in photography. "It was then I began to get serious," Post said.

Gerlach, who has shot for hundreds of publications around the world, inspired Post to start taking what was a hobby into a professional direction. "Over the years it has become an obsession," Post said.

And the obsession has led Post to a parallel life that takes him all over the country, not to practice law, but to capture images with his Nikon camera.

"I hope that people see the technical ability -- the different perspective in the work," Post said. "I think that I have a unique style and that when you look at my photos you start to recognize my work so that if you see them again you know that they are mine."

Ten years ago Post spent a majority of his time shooting nature photography, like flowers and birds, but in the last decade he has branched out and shot almost everything as he travels.

He said he points his camera at whatever catches his eye and then he takes the time and makes the effort to create the image to his exacting standards. "I do all of the color correcting and most of my printing myself as I am the only one who really knows what I want," Post said.

A visit to www.edpostphotography.com, illustrates what he is talking about as the photos nearly jump off the computer screen.

"The photos are about the composition," he said. "You have to tell a story with the photo or people don't want to look at it."

One of the photos is the exhibit, "Point Lobos at Sunset," is a shot of a rocky shoreline that leads the eye to the ocean. It is lit in such a way that the viewer knows immediately the time of day and the type of weather. "It was all intentional. Nothing in that photo happened by accident."

Post also teaches seminars on various photographic techniques and gives talks about his favorites places to photograph across the country.

His wife Barbara who often works as his photo assistant as they travel. "She is a great partner," he said.

The exhibit at the Gallery Uptown runs through the end of the month. The gallery is at 201 Washington St. Visit www.galleryuptown.net for hours.